Jose keckeis



l. KECKEIS.

GAME BOARD.'

APPLlCAIION FILED APR- 7, |920. 1,378,175. Patented May 17, 1921.

Q/u m Tfr. 1. .Nn 0 MH R A /1 n. IM f, N l .f W e 1151111 MEZ Z UNITED STATES JOS xncxnrs, or PORTLAND, maricon.

GAME-BOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 17, 1921.

Application filed April 7, 1920. Serial N0. 371,832.

To all fwhom 'it may concern:

Be it known 4that I, JOS Kncxnrs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Portland, in the county of Multnomah and State of Ore on, have invented a new and useful Gamecard, of which the following is a specification.

My invention Vrelates to improvements in giame boards in which Skittles are knocked own by a marble.

The objects of my invention are to produce an inexpensive amusement device which is entertaining and fascinating to young and old, and possesses considerable educational value by teaching children the laws of deflection which govern moving balls when striking a curved surface.

I attain these objects with the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which#- Figure I is a plan view of the entire apparatus with parts of the device broken away.

Fig. II is a bottom view of Fig. I.

Fig. III is a longitudinal section through Fig. I along the line A-A.

Fig. IV is a section through the spring piston along line B-B in Fig. I.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

Placing the board on a horizontal support, the player takes his position at the rear end, where the Skittles 1 are stood up on the circles 2 as in the familiar game of nine-pins. A marble 3 is inserted through the opening 4 into the covered groove 5 at the right edge of the board where it rolls against the spring piston 6. Withdrawing the piston by means of the handle 7, and then releasing it will project the marble forward in the groove 5. But, since the groove is curved at the forward end 8, said marble will return and knock the Skittles over with one or more Shots, depending upon the skill or good luck of the player.

This is the simplest aspect of the game, well adapted to furnish amusement for smaller children. However, there are complications introduced which will not fail, to render it fascinating to maturer intellects. This is'accomplished as follows: The side walls 9 of the game board are curved according to a well calculated plan, and in the center of each curve is placed a skittle, whose location for the sake of convenience may be designated by the numerals 10 to 17 inclusive. To make any of these skittles accessible to a marble, there are flexible strips of metal 18 secured to the side walls of the curve 8, and these strips being held by pivots 19 to the slide 20 can be bent sidewise to direct the marble to any skittle or curve desired. Part of the cover at the forward end is broken away to show more clearly the construction underneath.

The slide is guided in a slot 21 in the bottom of the game board (see Fig. II), and can be directed to either side by means of lever 22 which latter can be handled rearwardly at the point 23 and is pivoted at 24 to the underside of the board. The slide 20 extends far enough to either side, so that even in extreme lateral position no marble or skittle can enter and wedge in forwardlyi of the slide. The small ledges 25 at the slide, Shown in Figs. I and III, add stability to Said slide.

The complications in this game are further augmented by having some Skittles entirely inaccessible for direct shots, as for instance, the Skittles 11, 13, 15 and 17. To reach the first named skittle, the shot must be accurately directed along the dotted line 26, while skittle 13 requires a shot along the dotted line 27. Also skittle 12 can be reached indirectly by shooting Vthe marble first around the skittle 10, then around skittle 17, from whence skittle 12 is knocked over.

Having thus described my invention, it will be seen that my objects have been accomplished, and, though I have shown the preferred form of construction, I reserve to myself the right to make minor changes, providing I do not violate the spirit and principle of my invention.

I claim:

1. In a game board, the combination of a playing field, a wall provided with a plurality of curved recesses surrounding the field, propelling and guiding means for a yball located at one end of the field, the recesses being so located with respect to each other and to said field that a ball directed by the guiding and propelling means toward one recess may be deflected by the wall thereof to a skittle located in a recess on the opposite side of the field.

2. In a game board, the combination of a field, a wall around thefield, and a plurality of curved recesses in the wall, with means at one side of the field to direct a ball into the recesses, said means comprising a spring piston, a canal, parallel flexible strips projecting from the mouth of the canal toward the field, ears attached to the flexible strips and a slide having pins to engage ears at the strips, said slide being capable of pointing said strips in parallel relation toward any part of the field.

3; In a game board, the combination of a field, a Walll around theJ field, and a plurality orf curved. recesses in the Wall, with means at one side of the eld to direct a ball into the recesses, said means comprising a canal having a flexible mouth piece, propellingmeans in the canal, a slide having a sliding connection With the flexible mouth piece, and a lever for propellingl the slide having its manipulating handle extending beyond; the edge of the board.

Signed bv me at Portland, Oregon, this 1 day of Apii, 1920; JOSEKECKEIS; 

